Chapter 122 0117 [Blackmail and Almshouses]

The next day, morning.

After Chen Yuan finished a math problem, he put down his pen and asked, "Then the eunuch came down the mountain?"

Zhu Ming walked into the house, sat down and poured water to drink: "I just walked not far, but I don't plan to return to Beijing. It seems I haven't had enough fun."

Chen Yuan sarcastically said: "I finally made a trip to Beijing. How can I leave without making enough money? I'm afraid I'll find a reason to extort a sum of money."

"As long as you don't come knocking on us," Ju Ming said with a smile.

There were only a few officials in the Song Dynasty who were not greedy. High salary and being honest only existed in dreams. Being blackmailed by eunuchs was pure dog bite dog.

But it was said that Fu Dexiang was being escorted down the mountain, accompanied by officers from Yangzhou and Xingdao County Yamen, and the team responsible for clearing the way lined up twenty meters long.

They were beating gongs and shouting all the way, and the battle was so lively.

The officials were about to invite the eunuch to go to the state government office. As they were walking, Fu Dexiang suddenly asked: "Last winter, the snow in Bianliang was eight feet thick. Did it ever snow here in Yangzhou?"

Yang Zhizhou replied: "There are three feet of snow in Yangzhou."

Fu Dexiang added: "The government has issued an order. From now on, every winter, if there is a heavy snowstorm, the homeless shelters in various places must take in homeless people. And there is no limit on the number of homeless people."

"The official is really a benevolent king," Yang Zhizhou quickly praised the emperor and added, "This order has not been sent yet, and the Yangzhou officials are not aware of it."

Fu Dexiang admonished: "This almshouse, Anjifang, Luzeyuan, Juzicang, and Salesian Bureau are the virtuous government of the officials and the kindness of Cai Xianggong. You should strictly abide by the government orders and do not A poor person is left out. The young grow up, the old die, and the widowed, widowed, lonely, disabled, and sick are all supported. This is the picture of the prosperous age of the Song Dynasty."

"What the noble man said is absolutely true." Yang Zhizhou agreed.

Fu Dexiang suddenly said: "Go to the almshouse and have a look."

"Going now?" Yang Zhizhou was stunned.

"I'll go now." Fu Dexiang said with a smile.

Yang Zhizhou didn't take it seriously. He raised his hand to summon a subordinate official and gave a few instructions in a low voice, which frightened the subordinate official so much that his face turned pale.

The subordinate officer quickly ran to the front of the team and asked the officer to change the direction of travel.

Then, the guy quietly slipped away in the middle of the journey and returned to the state office as quickly as possible to inform his colleagues.

Not long after, the officials who were left on duty at the state government office called on all the remaining officers. They searched the streets for beggars or captured gray-haired passers-by, urging them to go to the almshouses to perform.

Then he rushed into a street restaurant, grabbed the cook and left, ordering the handyman to quickly pick up food, meat and vegetables to follow.

Hundreds of beggars and old people were brought to the almshouse for no apparent reason, and the scene was as noisy as a wet market.

An official beat him with a stick and finally silenced everyone.

Another civil servant shouted: "If you make any noise again, you will be taken to prison and tortured. Listen to me, you are all homeless poor people. It is the government that provides you with food, drink and accommodation. You can make up whatever you want. You must make up your words. If you answer incorrectly, your whole family will be exiled to the army!"

Hearing this, the beggar and the old man trembled with fear.

"Take off your clothes and put them on for the beggar!" the clerk shouted again.

The officials and servants took off their clothes one after another. Those who were not wearing official uniforms took off their coats. Those who were wearing official uniforms took off their underwear and threw them all to beggars to put on.

"I'm coming!"

A policeman ran over in panic, and the clerk and other policemen quickly ran away, disappearing out of the back door in the blink of an eye.

Fu Dexiang walked quickly into the almshouse, walked up to an old man, and asked with a friendly face: "How old is my husband this year?"

The old man was so frightened that he no longer dared to speak, for fear that if he said something wrong, the whole family would be exiled.

The civil servant next to him reminded: "Old man, a nobleman asked you how old you are."

The old man's voice trembled: "Five...fifty-seven."

Fu Dexiang asked again: "How many people are there in the family?"

"Seven..." the old man reacted suddenly, "No home, no one, just me."

Fu Dexiang asked again: "How much ration can I receive every month? Can I usually have meat to eat?"

The old man didn't know how to answer, so he turned to look at the officials. No one reminded him, so he could only answer bravely: "If you can eat enough, you can eat enough."

Fu Dexiang sneered: "Do you know that we are sent by the officials to question the emperor. If you lie, you will be guilty of deceiving the emperor and will be executed. Do you know that you will be executed by the entire family? That's right. First, confiscate the family property and behead all the family members!"

The old man was so frightened that he collapsed and knelt down with a thud: "Spare my life! Spare my life! It's not that I want to lie, it's the government officials who asked me to lie."

Fu Dexiang glanced at it and suddenly felt happy.

The more than one hundred "poor people" present all looked frightened, and they were probably all extras.

Yang Zhizhou and Li Tongpan's expressions changed drastically. Although they knew that there was something fishy about the nursing home, they never expected that not a single poor person was adopted.

Last winter, they even visited the nursing home in the snow.

Regardless of whether he is pretending or not, he looks like he loves the people.

Nothing unusual was found at that time. The almshouse was in good order, and the poor people here were also very grateful to the government.

It was obvious that they had been deceived.

Fu Dexiang conducted a surprise inspection today, and the officials below had no time to prepare, so there were many loopholes.

Fu Dexiang walked up to a beggar again and asked with a smile: "Why do you wear your inner lining outside? You still look like a beggar with unkempt hair?"

The beggar did not dare to answer.

"Take off your clothes!" Fu Dexiang scolded sternly.

The beggar was so frightened that he knelt down and took off his clothes, revealing the tattered clothes underneath.

Fu Dexiang didn't bother to look any further and went straight to the kitchen. He whispered to the two attendants: "Choose two cooks at random and interrogate them separately. Just ask them how many years they have been in the almshouse and how much their monthly salary is."

These two followers were both messengers from the capital, and they acted immediately after receiving the order.

It only took more than ten minutes for them to come back and report: "The confessions of these two people do not match up, and they are all lying."

Fu Dexiang turned around and asked Zhizhou and Tongpan: "What can you two say?"

Yang Zhizhou said: "Invite the nobles to a banquet and talk while eating."

Fu Dexiang stood there and pointed out three fingers.

"Serve it tonight." Yang Zhizhou understood what it meant.

Fu Dexiang suddenly laughed and said sincerely: "This almshouse is a moral policy implemented by the officials and Mr. Cai, but we must not let Xiaoxiao ruin it. You two must pay more attention in the future."

"must!"

Yang Zhizhou and Li Tongpan quickly bowed and thanked him.

Ju Ming and his son are racking their brains to develop. Even if all of their more than 300 acres of tea mountains are converted into fried tea, they can only make a few hundred pounds a year due to the low cost.

And this eunuch easily extorted three thousand guan!

When leaving the nursing home, Fu Dexiang also made a request: "The iron money here is too heavy, so change it all into money. If there is not enough money, silver money will do."

How could Yang Zhizhou and Li Tongpan dare to refuse?

The almshouse was the face of Song Huizong and Cai Jing's political achievement project. As long as the eunuch went back to say bad things, they would definitely offend the emperor and powerful officials at the same time.

That night, three thousand gold and silver coins were quietly delivered to the eunuch.

Judge Li Tong was so angry that he cursed the head clerk of the household and put the person in charge of the almshouse in jail.

He went to Yang Zhizhou for a drink at night: "The eunuch bullied me too much!"

Yang Zhizhou comforted him and said, "Fortunately, this guy doesn't have a big appetite, so he can get rid of it with three thousand guans."

Li Tongpan said: "You don't have much appetite for three thousand guans? All the state's public funds for a year are gone. You don't care about money and food. Of course you don't feel bad!"

"What can we do if we don't give money?" Yang Zhizhou was also depressed.

Song Huizong wanted to highlight his prosperity, and Cai Jing followed his wishes and formulated a series of welfare policies.

From the birth of a baby to old age, death and burial, there are all supporting benefits.

Take almshouses as an example. They must be established in every county in Kaifeng Prefecture. Expanding to the whole country, poor areas are only established in state capitals, while wealthy areas are also required to have one in every county.

In the prosperous state capital of Jiangnan, the nursing home accommodates more than a thousand poor people and provides each person with living supplies worth 4 guan per month.

In remote and poor states, the minimum quota is to take in 40 people, and the average quota is to take in 100 people. Depending on the local price, the monthly payment ranges from a few hundred cash to one or two thousand yuan.

Welfare funds are all allocated by the central government on the surface, but are actually allocated by various departments.

For example, the almshouse in Yangzhou has a quota of 120 people, and each person is provided with a fixed amount of money per month. The annual expenditure of the almshouse alone reaches 1,400 yuan. In addition, there are also Luze Garden, Juzicang, Salesian Bureau, etc. These welfare institutions all cost money.

How can local finance afford it?

Officials in Changping were greedy, and officials in the state government were also greedy. The remaining money could not be distributed to the poor, and most of them were falsely claimed by related households.

This is not a slander out of thin air, the "Song Hui Yao Collection" is written clearly.

For example, during the Northern Song Dynasty, the Ministry of Household Affairs once recommended a thorough investigation of almshouses in various prefectures and counties, and offered rewards to encourage people to report fake claimants and cheaters.

Another example is Lin'an Mansion in the Southern Song Dynasty, which spent more than 100,000 yuan every year on adopting homeless people. However, the officials "failed to understand" (made mistakes), "received when it was appropriate" (should not accept), and "took the strong for the weak" (adopted the rich as if they were poor).

This is actually nothing, the actual operation is even more exciting.

Due to the financial difficulties in the Southern Song Dynasty, the central government was unable to allocate funds, and the main source of funds for the nursing homes was land income. Officials took the severely depreciated Huizi (paper currency of the Southern Song Dynasty) and forcibly purchased private land, driving many people into bankruptcy, and then allocated the land to almshouses to provide relief to the poor.

The eunuch had fun for several more days, and even his followers were full, and then he left Yangzhou happily.

Li Hanzhang came to the VIP dormitory of the academy and sighed: "Dalang, my father asks you to pass the exam this year. As long as you go to the exam, you don't have to worry about anything. He will arrange the exam tickets and guarantor. I will go to Tokyo next year and take the exam." It's best if you get Jinshi. If you don't, don't come back. I'll give you two hundred guan a year for food and accommodation in Beijing."

Ju Ming asked with a smile: "Why are you so angry, Your Majesty?"

"The eunuch extorted three thousand guan," Li Hanzhang shook his head and sighed. "In addition to managing his entourage, providing food, accommodation and gifts, the 4,000 guan money disappeared into thin air."

Ju Ming suppressed his smile and said with a serious face: "My personal affairs have actually caused trouble for your father."

Li Hanzhang added: "You resigned this year for a good reason. You will definitely not come again before the provincial examination (national examination) next year. But if you fail to pass the Jinshi examination and return to Yangzhou, the official position will inevitably be Send someone over again. By then, there might be someone with a bigger appetite, and even three or four thousand guans will be hard to get rid of."

"I'll try my best to pass the exam." Zhu Ming avoided talking about whether to return to his hometown.

Ju Ming could only be glad that the tea roasting incident was not exposed.

If Min Wenwei was out of his mind and offered fried tea to the eunuchs, if Song Huizong was happy with it, it would be terrible to directly list the fried tea as a tribute.

When the time comes, Ju Ming will either run away or rebel in advance.